


convinced myself that i'd never find you (when suddenly i saw you)

by hackingxbiochemist



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Canon Rewrite, Crush, F/F, Femslash, Happy Ending, Hosie, Hosie Endgame, Hosiewritings, Josie's POV, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hackingxbiochemist/pseuds/hackingxbiochemist
Summary: 4 times Josie tried to confess her feelings for Hope and the 1 time Hope actually confessed.orA slight canon rewrite of Hosie relationship pre-season 1 to season 3 because this season has been a clusterfuck, am I right?
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 45
Kudos: 210





	1. Spring Break

**Author's Note:**

> hello guys, i'm back! i was actually planning to post this fic sooner but i just got a new job and i'm still trying to manage my time. but at last i finish this fic! i actually got this idea after watching the first episode of season 3, what a disappointment, am i right? i was actually excited for hosie in s3 but the writers robbed us from that!  
> so, i decided to write this fic to get my mind off the crappy storyline in season 3. i think us hosie shippers need more fics to boost our morale so we won't be miserable with how the season is progressing.  
> hope you guys could enjoy it! <3

The first time Josie tried to tell Hope about her feelings, it turned out to be an epic fail and it disrupted their relationships. The repercussions from what happened scared Josie so much that she even flinched every time someone talked about ‘spring break’, generally and specifically. Josie remembered the incident well like it was yesterday, she has been crushing on Hope for almost a year back then and she’s too shy to even say anything to the older girl.

That year, Hope’s parents and uncle died, everybody found out that she was a Mikaelson and a tribrid, it changed Hope. She distanced herself from everybody and she started being a loner, she stopped talking to people, she rarely smiled and she kept only to herself. Hope never hanged out anymore around the recreation room; she mostly spent her time in her room or at the docks and the forest when she needs to turn. Josie was worried about Hope and she tried her best, as her 12 year old self to try and cheer Hope up.

Josie sometimes would bake cookies and brownies just for Hope because she knows the girl has a sweet tooth. She also bought some paints and brushes to give to Hope as she tried her best to learn about painting. And she tried some spells whenever she heard anyone talking badly about Hope or her family. As a result, Josie succeeded in changing the colors of someone’s hair, making them trip and fall over or even making their homework disappears. Well, nobody suspects her from doing all of that because Josie’s been very discreet. She didn’t want Hope to find out about her crush so obviously Josie tried her best to do all those things sneakily.

Usually, Josie will only put the plate of baked goods in front of Hope’s door as she knocked the door and ran as fast as she can since she can’t perform an invisibility spell yet. As for the paints and brushes, Josie put those in a box and she left it on the docks early in the morning because Josie knows that Hope will be training with her dad. Josie was very proud of herself back then, she thought she was being really careful and smart, that is, until Hope approached her when she was reading a book in the library.

“Hey, Josie.” Hope greeted her with a smile. A smile that rarely comes out. Whoa. Hope Mikaelson is smiling at her.

“H-hey, Hope.” Josie tried to answer confidently but she ended up stuttering.

“What are you reading?” Hope asked and sat beside her.

“Um, just some spell book, for the class.” Josie tried to elaborate as she held up the book.

Hope raised her eyebrow, “Hm, ‘Introduction Spells for Beginners’ ?” she read the title of the book, “Cloaking writings from papers doesn’t sound like it was a beginner’s spell.” Hope smirked and looked at Josie, trying to gauge her reaction.

Josie panicked when Hope mentioned what she did, “Uh. I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She tried to dismiss Hope’s remark.

“I know it’s you, Josie.” Hope gave Josie a soft smile.

“I’m so sorry, I just-“ Josie lowered her head in shame but Hope interrupted her, “No, Josie. Thank you. You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Instead, I should thank you. What you did was so sweet. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me.” Hope said, trying to look into Josie’s eyes.

“Wh-what?” Josie slowly raised her head confusedly.

“Yeah, I should be thankful for you. When everyone treated me differently, you didn’t. And I know that the baked goods and paints were all from you.” Hope chuckled as she saw Josie’s panic look. “You’re a good friend, Jo.” She said sweetly and put her hand on top of Josie.

Josie smiled back at Hope, unable to answer, her heart was racing more than a hundred miles per hour in that moment and she just nodded at what Hope said because the only thing she can focused was Hope put her hand on top of hers.

“I hope you liked it. And as for the paints and brushes, I didn’t know what you usually used, you can tell me if that’s not what you usually used, I’ll buy you another one.” Josie said quickly because she’s afraid that she made a mistake in buying the art supplies for Hope.

“No, Josie. It’s perfect, they are all perfect. I love them very much.” Hope said and she gave Josie a hug. If Josie’s heart was racing before, now it was trying to get out of her chest, Josie can felt her cheeks turned red in Hope’s embrace.

“So… you like it?” Josie asked in a small voice because she’s too nervous to say anything more.

“Of course, I like it! It means a lot to me…” Hope answered as her voice faltered.

Josie let out a small exhale after hearing that Hope liked, nope, loved, her gifts. The younger girl can’t help but smiled giddily at her interaction with Hope. Suddenly, the bell rang and Hope let go of her hug, “Oh, I have to go to class. See you, Jo!” she gave Josie one last smile before going out of the library.

Josie can’t believe what just happened, she felt like she was in a dream, Hope actually smiled, talked to her and even hugged her and told her that the gifts were perfect?? Wow, it must be Josie’s lucky day. And so, her feelings for Hope grew stronger each day and Josie was still too scared to say anything to Hope. Until one day, Josie gathered enough courage to confess to Hope about her feelings. She’s terrified with the idea of talking to Hope so she thought that pouring out her feelings on her note will be a good way to tell Hope.

Josie wrote a heartfelt note for Hope after much internal debate and it was like this:

_Dear Hope,_

_I think you look so beautiful when you smile. I hope that I can make you smile more. I really like your smile and I really like you. Do you want to spend time with me together at the docks?  
Check yes or no._

_Sincerely, Josie_

Josie actually cringes when she thought back about her note that she wrote and she remembered how the whole incident unfolded all too well. It was Spring Break, Josie and her family was supposed to go on a short trip to the beach. Lizzie was so excited about it because she just bought a new swimsuit while Josie was not as excited as her twin because she thought that she could spend some time with Hope on spring break. A day before they went on the trip, the school was empty, her family was shopping for snacks for the road and Josie opted to stay in school and there were not much students who stayed at the school for the break. In that moment, Josie decided to take her chance now, she has the note ready and she’s been sitting on it for a week because she hasn’t find the right moment to give it to Hope. Now’s her chance. Hope’s not on her room and Josie figured that she could slip it under her door and then she will wait in angst on Hope’s response.

Josie stood in front of Hope’s room and she took a deep breath and slipped the note as fast as possible. Just as Josie’s about to scurry away from Hope’s room, she heard a voice called her, “Jo? What are you doing in front of Mikaelson’s room?” It was Lizzie, standing in the corridor, with a suspicious look on her face.

“Nothing, I was just passing by her room and I remembered that she has my notebook, I knocked on her door but she’s not there.” Josie quickly made an excuse.

Lizzie scrutinized Josie carefully, “I don’t understand why you’re so obsessed with her.” She shakes her head after taking a long look at Josie’s expression.

Josie opened her mouth in protest, “I’m not-“

“Blah blah blah,” Lizzie turned around and cut off Josie, “C’mon we have to go back to our room, we got to pack.”

Josie inhaled frustratingly at her sister’s words. Was she obsessed with Hope? Will Hope freak out if she found out? Why was Josie so stupid for writing the note to Hope? What if Hope didn’t like her? What if it just weirded Hope out and she won’t talk to Josie anymore? And worse, what if Lizzie found out about her crush on Hope? Lizzie will try to go after Hope just to spite her. Josie got a ton of worries on her mind and she instantly regretted her decision to slip the note into Hope’s room. She should undo it. Slipping the note in was a mistake. Josie swiftly ran back in front of Hope’s room and muttered a fire spell to burn the note. And she ran back toward her room before anybody can see her standing in front of Hope’s room. Josie let out an exhale in relief that she succeeded in burning the note, her secret’s safe, no one will ever find out about her feelings to Hope. Maybe it’s better off this way.

And of course what happened next is history. Josie missed the note and ended up burning almost half of Hope’s room. She felt a huge amount of remorse and of course she felt really guilty that she burned down Hope’s room including the painting she made with her dad. Josie cried on the restroom when she heard what happened. She didn’t mean to do all of that, and everything was getting worse because Hope’s room burned down. Her dad cancelled the trip, Lizzie was very mad about it and she blamed Hope, her mother also needs to go back to Europe because she found something important. And of course, burning down Hope’s room was not enough; Josie just had to be selfish and lied to Lizzie about Hope, just to keep her crush on Hope to herself. Thus, all her actions ended up in an almost two years of feud between Hope and her twin. Above all that, Josie stopped talking to Hope and they only started talking again about a year ago when Malivore came into their lives. And that was the start of Josie’s resurfacing feelings toward Hope.


	2. 16th Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> second time that Josie tried to tell Hope about her feelings and failed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello guyss! yes it's another update! i actually has finish the whole fic and just need to proofread it. so maybe i'm going to post the updates simultaneously on the next several days. and I'm hoping that I can start working on a new draft soon. since season 3 was a total shitshow, i was motivated to write more hosie fics :') hope i can fulfill that! in the meantime, enjoy!

The second time Josie wanted to confess her feelings for Hope, it’s interrupted by the whole mombie disaster. After that day on the park when Hope poked herself, they both started talking to each other again and Josie can’t help but feel herself smiling more when she saw the older girl. They defeated several monsters that were sent by Malivore and Hope even asked Josie to do black magic with her. And holding Hope’s hands, even if only for spell-casting, brought butterflies into Josie’s stomach.

They get closer and closer as time goes by, Josie will sometimes stay in Hope’s room and they’ll talk until it’s late and when Josie came back to her room, Lizzie will throw a suspicious look on her because Josie often lied about her whereabouts. In all the times she spent with Hope, Josie knew well that Hope will only see her as a friend and nothing more so Josie needs to control her own feelings. Josie couldn’t let herself made the same mistakes she did on spring break almost three years ago. She knew what she did and she deeply regretted it and now Josie’s trying her best to suppress her resurfacing feelings towards the tribrid.

However, it’s not that easy. Josie knew that Rafael and Landon were interested in Hope and seeing them tried to win Hope over only made Josie annoyed. The first time she realized it, she was eating lunch with Hope and suddenly Landon turned up out of nowhere and started asking Hope to explain about the monsters that has been coming after them. Josie tried her best to smile and insert herself to the conversation but deep down she was really irked by Landon’s appearance. Great, now Josie’s even jealous of Rafael and Landon who tried to make a move on Hope, at least they have a chance with Hope, but Josie? She doesn’t think that she’ll have any chance with the auburn-haired girl.

Josie tried to forget her feelings for Hope by hanging around Penelope again. Even though Penelope broke her heart and Josie despised her, she still gravitated toward the girl. When Penelope escorted her in the pageant, Josie thought that maybe she could distract herself from her feelings for Hope. But she instantly failed when she saw Hope in her mom’s blue dress that was actually given by Hope’s father back then. Josie tried her best not to drool over how beautiful Hope was that night. In that moment, Josie knew that no matter how hard she tried, she can’t fool herself into thinking that she didn’t have any feelings for Hope.

Just as Josie was starting to accept the fact that she couldn’t do anything about her feelings toward Hope, she was surprised by a small box that turned up on her bed on her 16th  birthday. It’s a gift from Hope, a beautiful silver talisman along with a note from Hope. Josie’s heart fluttered when she read the note and she read it over and over again to make sure that the note’s really from Hope and it’s not her eyes fooling her. She can’t believe that Hope got her a gift and Josie thought maybe, just maybe, she has a chance with Hope.

Before Josie can think more about it, her dead biological mother showed up and they were all in shock. Josie knew that it must be the doing of Malivore but she’s just really glad that she could talk with her bio mom who she’s named after. Turns out that they got a lot in common and Josie’s really glad because she could see herself in her bio mom. All these times, Josie felt a bit estranged since she didn’t have any resemblance with Caroline and it actually saddened her because Lizzie got some traits of Caroline whereas Josie didn’t look like her at all. So when Josette showed up, Josie was just too excited to talk to her and to get to know her more. Her talk with Josette was actually one of the reasons that Josie decided to confess her feelings toward Hope. Josette told her to be brave and take a leap since life is short. So Josie decided to do it, she wanted to tell Hope about her feelings after the birthday party.

Before Josie prepared herself for the party, she stopped by Hope’s room first and knocked on the door.

“Hey Hope, I hope I’m not disturbing you.” Josie smiled when Hope opened the door.

“Of course you’re not, Jo.” Hope smiled back, “Happy birthday by the way!” Hope gave her a hug and questioned Josie, “What’s up?”

“Uh, you’re coming to the party tonight, right?” Josie hesitantly asked.

“If you wanted me to come, I’ll come.” Hope answered timidly and she continued, “You must be so happy, Jo. But just be careful, okay? We don’t know what Malivore’s up to.”

Josie nodded, “Yeah, I know, Hope. But it’s just nice, having my mother who actually looked like me. And we got a lot in common. I know that I should be suspicious of the situation but I can’t help to enjoy my moments with her.” Josie told Hope about her fear.

“I know, Jo. I know how important it is. If it were my mother, I wouldn’t be able to think clearly about the situation because what mattered was I got her back.” Hope smiled sadly and she gave Josie’s arm a squeeze.

“Yeah…” Josie agreed with Hope, “Oh, I was actually going to ask you to meet me on the docks after my birthday party. I have something to tell you.”

“Sure…why can’t you tell me now Jo?” Hope’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“It’s a secret,” Josie winked, “see you later, okay?” Josie said and Hope nodded as Josie said bye and returned to her room where Josette was waiting for her to help Josie get ready for the party.

Josie didn’t suspect anything weird and she’s just filled with both giddiness and nervousness. She’s just so happy because she got to spend time with her bio mom and Hope got her a beautiful necklace for her birthday. However, Josie’s also nervous because she will tell Hope about her feelings later tonight. Josie knows well the risk she’s taking and she needs to prepare herself for the worst. As she’s walking down the corridors to head to the hall, Josette stopped responding to her remarks but Josie brushed it off, it wasn’t until she woke up in darkness, trapped in a box that she admitted that something’s off about Josette all day. Josie was letting her feelings cloud her judgement and now she ended up buried under ground.

Josie screamed but she knew that her voice will be just swallowed by the ground on top of her, she tried to siphon from anything around her but she failed, the space around her seemed to get closer and Josie can felt the oxygen level decreasing bit by bit as she racked her brains of ways to get out from here. It was cold and Josie can’t move inside the box, she punched the box but it’s futile, nobody will come save her and maybe this is the end for her.

Oh god, Josie can’t even think clearly by now. The only thing she could do is only to wish that anyone realized her disappearance and looked for her. But what if anyone doesn’t realize? Josie can feel her breath getting heavier and she cried in frustration as she kept hitting through the box. She absentmindedly touched the necklace Hope gave her and weirdly it gave her a sense of relief. Josie’s mind went to Hope, on how she’s unable to tell Hope how she felt. Maybe Josie’s just not destined to be with Hope.

Josie started heaving as she felt the oxygen around her decreased and the only thing on her mind now was how pathetic it was for her to be buried by her own resurrected bio mom. Was Josette who spent the day with her even real? Or was she just a zombie who fooled Josie? How absurd it was to die on her 16th birthday by her own dead bio mother who she was named after. Josie can only sob at the despair and helplessness she felt as she felt herself suffocating. When she’s about to lose her consciousness, she heard voices getting closer and then the box flung open, MG, Hope and Penelope were standing in front of the box. They were all holding shovels and were coated with dirt.

Josie took a deep breath as she rise from the box, Hope, MG and Penelope looked at her with worry but also relief. Hope exhaled with her face full of worry, “The talisman. It works.” She stated.

Josie touched the talisman, “What does it do?”

“Make quiet things heard.” Hope replied and smiled at her, their eyes locking with each other.

If Josie’s not shaken, she surely will confess to Hope that night but the event that happened stopped her from doing so. After Josie cleaned up and got back to her room, her dad, Lizzie and Josette came and they told her what she and Lizzie needed to do to Josette. Josette’s really upset for what happened and she was the one who begged Lizzie and Josie to siphon whatever magic that was resurrecting her because it already endangered Josie and she didn’t want to hurt more people.

And so, still shaken and numb from what happened, Josie siphoned the magic out of Josette with Lizzie. She knew that her bio mom was already dead but doing this only felt like she died again and now it was Josie and Lizzie who killed her. After the whole incident, Josie was keeping things to herself more than ever. Everybody was trying to make her feel better and Josie pretended that things were okay but she still woke up with nightmares of her suffocating in the box.

When Josie had actually felt better about the whole thing, Hope’s already with Landon. Josie only smiled bitterly at the fact that she missed her shot and how it’s maybe for the best because telling Hope how she felt could change things and Josie didn’t need any of that right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! stay tune for the next update! :D  
> the next chapter is probably my favorite part to write! <3


	3. The Day Josie Remembered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's the third time that Josie's about to tell Hope about how she feels, but of course, something stops her from doing so. wonder what/who it is?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! happy valentine's day to you all! I hope you like this update! I love writing this chapter the most :D  
> glad to read all your comments and thanks for all the kudos and bookmarks! and oh, i changed some dialogue from the original episode, just to make it a bit better ;)  
> last but not least, enjoy! <3

The third time Josie tried to tell Hope about her feelings, Josie’s pretty sure that she’s jinxed. Things just kept interrupting her and now, it’s her dearest twin sister, Lizzie. After all that happened in the past few months, Josie just remembered Hope again, she had a long day and she’s exhausted from her trip to New Orleans then she had to blast the whole school with the ancient purge spell. Josie wanted to check up on Hope so bad but she refrained herself from doing so, remembering the complicated situation she’s in.

Technically, Hope was still dating Landon when Hope jumped into Malivore and then Josie dated Landon, Hope came back and they both didn’t even remember Hope. Josie cursed herself, how can she forget Hope? She knew that it was because of Malivore, of course it’s not her fault. But Josie thought how lonely Hope must have been the past three months, nobody in the world remembered her and she had to go through it all alone. Moreover, Hope had to find out that Josie and Landon are dating now and she can’t even do anything about it.

Josie remembered clearly the first time she saw Hope again after her jump into Malivore, it was at the football game between Mystic High and Salvatore. When she first laid eyes on Hope, Josie was intrigued about the girl but then when Landon shook hands with her for a bit too long, Josie can felt a pang of jealousy inside. Back then she figured that she must be jealous of Hope because Landon seemed to have a connection with her. Josie recalled that she was having a hard time with her conflicting feelings toward the auburn-haired girl from Mystic High. Since their first meeting, Josie can’t stop thinking about Hope.

Something was always bugging her mind when she thought about Hope. At first Josie thought it was because of her jealousy, she needed to know if Hope’s a threat to her or not but then it slowly turned into something incomprehensible. Josie’s dying to know more about the girl and she seemed to show up most times whenever they faced a monster and every time Josie saw Hope, she can felt her emotions running all over the place and Josie’s frustrated because she couldn’t make sense of it.

Since then everything felt off, spending time with Landon didn’t matter anymore and Josie’s mind kept fleeting toward Hope. She hated to admit it but she’s fixated about the girl. However, Josie thought that maybe she’s just jealous and delirious about her own feelings, so she tried to make sure that maybe it’s all the pent-up feelings she has for Landon. So Josie decided to sleep with Landon after the dance.

Josie felt that something’s holding her back all night but she decided to ignore the feelings and just go through with it. Everything seems wrong, it wasn’t supposed to be this way, and Josie’s kinda relieved when Landon freaked out because he was nervous. What happened next baffled Josie the most, she absent-mindedly opened Penelope’s burn book after the chaos that night. When she passed through Landon’s journal and found the song, it was then she knew that the girl who’s been on her mind did mean something.

When Josie read the word ‘Hope’ she felt a tear rolled on her cheek, but it wasn’t because Landon was writing a song about another girl, Josie can’t explained it but she knew there was something about Hope that has something to do with her feeling off. It was like there’s something missing inside her soul, a gap in her mind that she can’t explained and maybe it’s the answer to all her mixed-up feelings that showed up the first time she saw Hope on the football field.

Called it a hunch, but Josie knew that this might have something to do with Malivore, Josie just knew that Hope has a connection to it and she came upon the ancient Japanese purge spell. Josie doesn’t know why but the first witch that came into her mind when she came upon the spell was of course the oldest and most powerful witch she knew, Freya Mikaelson, who resides in New Orleans. It’s a crazy idea, going to New Orleans to ask Freya to help her do a spell, that Josie herself isn’t sure will work. However, Josie had a feeling that she needs to do this, whatever it takes.

Josie has thought about what it means if she did the purge spell. First, her parents will ground her if they knew that she went alone without telling anyone. Second, the spell might not work and she might get banned from New Orleans by the most powerful witch living in it. Third, if the spell worked, Landon might be leaving her for this Hope girl. Fourth, Josie will be doing a huge amount of black magic. Lastly, Josie didn’t know how the spell might work and what’ll happen after.

But, the moment Josie stepped her foot into Rousseau’s, she knew that she came to the right place. She looked at the pictures on the wall and she saw some familiar faces and her eyes were instantly drawn to a face. The face that has been haunting her dreams since she saw it a month ago. Blue eyes, auburn hair, a wide smile and Josie have never been so certain that this mysterious girl must meant something to her. She’s the missing piece that Josie needs to figure out to explain all the things she’s been feeling. Plus, this girl definitely has a connection with the Mikaelsons and Josie was certain that Hope must been the one who jumped into Malivore. Josie recalled the moment she begged Freya to help her because the witch almost think that Josie was playing some kind of prank on her with the ancient spell.

“Please do tell me why I need to help you with the spell,” Freya scrutinized Josie with suspicion from behind the bar.

Josie walked over to the wall with pictures and she took a picture of Hope with Freya, “You must have a lot of pictures together with this person but you didn’t remember her, right? She’s in all your pictures but you don’t have the slightest idea of who she was? You forget someone important to you but you can’t quite put a finger on it. Is that right?” Josie then held up the picture for Freya to see and pointed at it, “This, this is who I’m talking about, her name’s Hope and I think she’s someone important to you.”

Freya paused and looked at the picture, her eyes seemed to search for something, remembering the things that of course she couldn’t remember but she seems to believe Josie now. “Yes, I do. But who is she to you? I doubt that you would jump on a bus to New Orleans just to try to bring back everyone’s memory of this person with black magic if she’s just a stranger.”

Josie was flustered with the question, “I-I,” she stuttered, “I think she’s my friend.”

“A friend? A friend wouldn’t go to such great lengths like this.” Freya glared at Josie suspiciously.

“Well, I don’t know! I just feel that she’s also important to me and I need to remember…” Josie snapped because she can’t explain how she feels to Freya, “It’s complicated…”

Freya looked at her for a while and then she raised her eyebrow at Josie, “Well, what are you waiting for then?”

Josie was surprised at Freya’s agreement to help her and she quickly put the book she’s been carrying on the table. “Okay, here it is, I learned some Japanese but there are some characters that I can’t recognize,” Josie opened the book and showed the spell to Freya, “I don’t really get this part…”

Freya studied the spell and after several minutes she closed the book, “Okay, I got it. Let’s do this.” She walked out from behind the bar to Josie and took out a paper as she translated the Japanese characters into alphabets. “Harae-tamai…Kioku… Yomigaerashi-tamae…” Freya wrote down the words and Josie mouthed it to try the pronunciation.

“You should be careful when you do this spell, this is an ancient spell and I didn’t know if it would work. The worst case will be you failing to reverse the spell, instead you will be solidifying the changes that happened and at that point, it would be irreversible.” Freya explained to Josie then her phone suddenly rang, “Excuse me, I got to take this.”

Josie sighed as she looked at the piece of paper in her hand. What if she’s wrong about this? What if this is her way of unconsciously sabotaging her own happiness with Landon? And what scares her most is what if the things she suspected are true? Maybe Hope’s actually someone important to both Landon and Josie. And judging from Landon’s song about Hope, they might have a history. Josie then will be left alone, again. Maybe Hope doesn’t even know her and Josie’s just wildly imagining the entire hypothesis. Josie sighed and looked at Freya’s picture with Hope. The auburn-haired girl really looked familiar and Josie can felt her heart fluttered a bit when she looked at the picture of the girl that’s been on her mind for the past few weeks.

“Tell me more about the girl. I think you know more about it and you’ve been not entirely truthful to me.” Freya startled Josie while Josie was busy fighting with all the insecurities in her head.

“You’re not sure what to do with the spell yet, aren’t you?” Freya approached her, Josie instinctively took a step back, “I think you wouldn’t come here if you don’t truly know who she is. So why won’t you tell me?”

Josie panicked and she siphoned the magic from the book and blasted the spell to Freya, “Harae-tamai Kioku Yomigaerashi-tamae!” Josie raised her hand and the next thing she knew, Freya was thrown off to a chair. Josie definitely felt guilty about it but she can’t turn back, she needs to leave, if Freya woke up and the spell didn’t work, the witch might pulverize her right there. Josie quickly packed up her bag and quickly leaves Rousseau’s.

On the way to the bus station, Josie kept wishing that Freya will be okay and the spell will work. It’s her only hope from being destroyed after knocking out the most powerful witch in New Orleans. After she secured a seat on the bus, Josie finally can exhaled and she checked her phone, apparently her sister called her a lot of times and she sent her multiple texts, informing Josie of a new monster that showed up.

It’s a Croatoan who feeds on secrets and the only way to stop it was to tell the truth. Oh well, Josie’s just relieved that she’s not there, she can’t imagine spilling out truths to things she only needs to know. Duh, it’s called a secret for a reason right?

Talking about secret, Josie thought about what Freya said to her and she thinks hard why she hasn’t know yet what she should do with the spell. Blasting this spell to the whole school means that their memory about Hope will be back, but what if it affected her and Landon’s relationship in the worst way?

But then Josie thought about the blue-eyed girl and if her hypothesis about Hope is right, it means Josie has to do the spell. Josie can’t imagine being forgotten by her whole world, by her friends and family and having to go through it alone, Josie can’t imagine how lonely and sad the whole thing is.

Somehow, Josie knew that she needed to remember the girl; she needed to do the spell, whatever the consequences will be. The whole school needs to remember Hope, Josie needs to remember who she is.

And so, Josie arrived at Salvatore and she quickly sprinted toward the gym when she heard a ruckus coming from it. It must be the monster, she thought to herself, and faintly she can heard Lizzie’s voice and another familiar voice, they are shouting something. As Josie approached the gym, she scrunched her eyebrows, wait, they are not shouting spells, it seems they are shouting random things?

Josie just remembered that the Croatoan feeds on lies so Lizzie and whoever it is, was spilling the truth to defeat it. When Josie reached the gym, the Croatoan was cornering Lizzie and the girl, who turned out to be Hope who was apparently shouting, “Okay! Okay! I’ve got it! I think it’s time for people to know that I’m back!” and her words seemed to give a blow to the monster but it was only held back for a while.

Josie had been stealthily siphoning magic from the ancient spell book, she will need a lot of it to defeat the Croatoan while blasting the memories of all people at Salvatore. When Josie felt that the magic is surging all over her body and she’s about to be overcharged, she stepped right behind the Croatoan and shouted, “And I’m back!” as she raised her hand toward the Croatoan and blasted it with the spell with all her might, “Harae-tamai Kioku Yomigaerashi-tamae!”. Then Josie blacked out.

When Josie wakes up, she’s on her bed and she directly jolts awake, she remembers it all. “Hope…” Josie whispers as she touches the talisman on her neck. It feels like a veil has been lifted off her mind, the talisman has been on her neck and all this time Josie’s wondering who she got it from and now she remembers.

And that’s not all she remembers, Josie at last understand why she’s been feeling so uneasy these past months and it explains her complicated feelings. Her feelings for Hope returned and suddenly, her feeling toward Landon doesn’t make sense anymore, why the hell she’s dating Landon? Why in the world she worries so much about Landon leaving her? Now it’s clear, she’s been feeling jealous all the time because of the possibility of Landon ending up with Hope not because she has feelings for Landon.

All the memories and feelings that were reversed by the spell meant that the spell worked and Josie exhales in relief because Freya won’t be killing her in the near future. But it also means that Landon remembers Hope, and well, Josie needs to just swallow the bitter truth because Landon will inevitably break up with her now that he remembers Hope.

Josie lays back again on her bed as she tries to sleep again in order to escape the reality’s she’s in right now. Maybe she’s meant to be alone and at least everybody remembers Hope again. That’s the least Josie could do for Hope. Josie nods off to sleep again as soon as she lays her head on the pillow, she doesn’t consider that doing the spell will exhaust her this much and so she drifts off to sleep with the thought of a certain auburn-haired girl.

When Josie wakes up again, Lizzie is watching her sleep, “Stop staring, Lizzie. You’re being creepy.” Josie turns away to the other side when Lizzie looks at her worriedly.

“Hey! I’m worried about you! You have been sleeping for almost 8 hours since you collapsed,” Lizzie exclaims as she checks her watch.

“I woke up but then I drifted off to sleep again,” Josie mumbles to her twin, not really wanting to talk.

Lizzie gets the hint that Josie won’t be talking so she offers her some food, “Are you hungry? You’ve been passed out for a while and I assume that doing that kind of spell took a crazy amount of energy. I felt it too, you know? The exhaustion washed over me as soon as you passed out and I even took a two hour nap. I can’t imagine how exhausting it was for you, Jo.” Lizzie says softly as she’s concerned about her sister wellbeing and also emotional being.

“I’m not really hungry, Liz. I’ll just eat later if I feel like it. Thank you, though.” Josie turns around and gives her sister a smile.

“Okay…” Lizzie replies and she continues, “Are you okay, though?”

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be? I just need some sleep, that’s all.” Josie tells her twin.

“I’m not talking about your physical condition, Jo. I’m talking about—“ Lizzie hesitates, not sure how to put how complicated things will be between her sister, Hope and Landon now that everybody got their memories of Hope back.

Josie gives a Lizzie a tight-lipped smile, “I’m okay. I knew the consequences. It might take me some time to process it but I’ll be okay, Liz.”

Suddenly Josie hears a knock on her door and the door opens with Hope’s head sticking out from it, “Hey,” she smiles nervously at Josie.

Lizzie then stands up, “Wow. I know that we bonded on the time when everybody forgets about you, but I didn’t think you will be _this_ attached to me. How clingy.” Lizzie rolls her eyes and walks over to Hope. Josie only looks at Hope on the doorway and she can feel a flutter on her chest when Hope smiles at her. Hope doesn’t even respond to Lizzie’s remarks and she looks at Josie expectantly, waiting for her to say something.

“Can I talk to you, Jo?” Hope fidgets with her hands as she asks Josie.

Lizzie blocks Hope’s view of Josie, “Nope. She’s tired, she needs her beauty sleep.” Lizzie stops Hope from getting in because she know that Josie’s not in the mood to talk to anyone, especially Hope and Landon.

“Lizzie.” Josie chastises her twin, “It’s okay… Let her in…” Josie says softly.

Lizzie reluctantly steps away and Hope steps into the room and Hope eyes Lizzie but she doesn’t say anything. Josie understands Hope and says, “Liz, I’m hungry. Fetch me some ice cream would you?”

“Ice cream?! You just woke up and your stomach is empty, why the hell are you asking for ice cream?” Lizzie berates Josie.

“I don’t know! Well then, cook something for me..” Josie requests.

“Okay, okay,” Lizzie shakes her head as she exits the room.

Hope then shyly approaches Josie, “Hey…I just wanted to check up on you,” she tucks a lock of her hair on her ear, “how are you feeling?”

“Take a seat, Hope, I don’t bite,” Josie chuckles weakly at how nervous the girl in front of her is.

Hope carefully sits on the edge of Josie’s bed and clears her throat, “Are you okay, Jo?”

“Yeah, other than the exhaustion, I’m okay..” Josie smiles at the girl.

“I’m sorry..” Hope blurts out, still fidgeting with her hands.

“For what?” Josie looks at Hope with confusion.

“For not telling you who I am, for making things complicated between you and Landon.” Hope tells Josie, her eyes set on the wooden floor.

“I don’t even think that I—“ Josie says but she’s interrupted by a scribbling sound coming from Penelope’s burn book, Josie picks it up and opens it.

Then she and Hope watches the message Landon wrote intended for them, he’s leaving Mystic Falls because apparently things are too complicated for him. And now he wants to focus to help Raf finds his real parents. Josie scrunches her eyebrows with confusion as she holds back her anger toward Landon who took such a cowardly way to get out of the complicated situation he’s in right now. Josie wonders what she saw in Landon back then and she can’t believe that the boy still has the guts to leave Hope just when Hope expected him to be with her.

Josie looks at Hope and she sees how surprised Hope is as they read the letter. Hope subtly clenches her fist and Josie notices it, she sees that Hope’s trying her best to control herself and it actually angers Josie. She’s angry at Landon for leaving them both, but mostly she’s mad that Landon hurts Hope by leaving like this.

After several minutes of silence, Hope asks Josie softly, her voice so low it’s barely a whisper, “Do you want me to stay?”

Josie takes Hope’s hand as her response but Hope continues, “I miss you. But I can go if me being here makes you uncomfortable. I know how complicated it must be for you and if my existence here cause you pain, I’ll go. Just say the word.” Hope says every word slowly and Josie never sees the older girl being this vulnerable.

Josie squeezes Hope’s hand and stares into Hope’s blue eyes, “I want you to stay. Landon or no Landon, you belong here.” _With me_. Josie can’t bring herself yet to say the last two words to Hope. So she gives Hope a reassuring smile. Tears rolled from Hope’s eyes and she embraces Josie in a tight hug. “Thank you, Jo. I can’t believe that you brought everyone memory’s back.”

Josie hugs Hope back fiercely, realizing how much she’s been missing the girl on her arms, “Don’t worry. I just had to do what’s necessary.” _You don’t know how much you mean to me, Hope_.

They pull away and Hope gazes into Josie’s eyes warmly and it feels so right to Josie. She can see all the puzzle pieces clearly and everything in its place now. Maybe Landon leaving is a sign from the universe that she should tell Hope about her complicated feelings toward her?

So Josie swallows hard as she decides to let Hope knows about her feelings, “Hope, when I first saw you on the football game, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I kept trying to figure out who you are and it’s like there’s a magnet that make me drawn to you. Then I realized that you must have a connection with why everything’s been off all summer. You know, when I saw you shook hands with Landon, something snapped within me and I—“

“Who’s ready to have ice cream for dinner?? And I also brought French fries!!” Lizzie barges into the room noisily, startling both Hope and Josie.

Josie internally groans at her sister’s impeccable timing. Just when she has muster up enough courage to tell Hope, Lizzie decides to ruin the moment and her chance. Oh well, maybe the universe thinks otherwise.

So Josie never brought up the conversation with Hope again, leaving Hope curious for what Josie’s going to say. Every time Hope asked her about what she’s going to say that night, Josie always changes the topic. Maybe it’s much better to leave their relationship as it is now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo what do you think about it??  
> well i have thought about this for some time and since i was writing this chapter it got me thinking and researching, Josie went to New Orleans only to ask Freya about the ancient purge spell. Now I've googled the distance from Virginia (where Mystic Falls is) to New Orleans, it took about 13-14 hours of trip by car. as I recalled, Josie took a bus to New Orleans. So Josie spent almost a day to go back and forth between Mystic Falls and New Orleans, for a girl that she didn't know? I mean it was so sweet and crazy if we think about it. like Josie didn't even knew the girl but she was willing to do that for Hope.  
> so yeah, the writers just have to be crazy when they didn't even make any hosie interactions in these four crappy episodes that we could call disappointments.


	4. Christmas in October

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the fourth time Josie tried to tell Hope, will she succeed this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, it's another update! :) so happy to read all of your responses and hope I'll see more of it :D  
> this chapter's a bit short but I hope you can still enjoy it. so, without further ado, enjoy!

Josie knows that she couldn’t stop avoiding answering Hope’s curiosity about what she was going to say the night before Lizzie interrupted her. The past weeks has been both stressful and delightful at the same time, Josie finds herself revolving around Hope, but every time Hope tries to bring up what about that night, Josie always made up some excuse and ignore Hope’s question. Of course, she’s glad that she get to spend most of her time with the older girl, but Josie knows that sooner or later she should tell Hope about her feelings.

They didn’t even talk about Landon and Josie seems to already forget the existence of the boy but Hope still seems sad whenever someone mentions his name. Josie tried to talk to Hope about it and Hope didn’t even say anything, she seems reluctant to talk about Landon with Josie because of the complicated relationships they had. Josie actually has some idea on why Hope’s really sad about Landon leaving. She knows but she doesn’t really want to acknowledge it because it just makes her heart hurts.

Hope reacting this way probably means that she’s still in love with Landon and she’s sad that Landon already left her side several times since he promised that he won’t leave Hope. Josie knows it, she knows, but she keeps her mind out of it. She didn’t even ask Hope to confirm it because Josie knows what Hope’s answer would be and she can’t bear it. So Josie acts like nothing happened between her, Hope and Landon. She tries her best to be there for Hope and she wants to show Hope that she really meant it when she asked Hope to stay.

And the best way to show Hope that she’s there to stay is just to simply be by her side. Rather than making empty promises like Landon, Josie goes to Hope’s room almost every night and she makes sure to talk with Hope every day. Usually she’ll fall asleep at Hope’s room or Lizzie will impatiently knocks on Hope’s door and drags Josie back to their room. However, it’s been a blissful period of time and Josie has never felt this happy and peaceful in a while.

One night, Hope actually opens up to Josie and she tells her about what’s really bothering her about the whole thing with Landon. And it’s exactly just like what Josie has hypothesized. Hope’s been having issues with people leaving her and when Landon promised her that he’ll stay, Hope actually believed him but she ended up disappointed.

Josie holds Hope in her arm as she listens about the girl telling her about how she always felt that she’s responsible for the deaths of her mom, dad and uncle. How she felt cursed because death has been following her since she was born. She tells Josie how people kept leaving her when they promised her that they won’t. Josie listens patiently to all what Hope has to say and after Hope’s done, Josie only hugs the girl tighter in her arms.

“I’ll be here, Hope. Whenever you need me.” She whispered and Hope breaks down into sobs in Josie’s embrace. Josie can’t help but shed some tears for imagining the feeling Hope has to burden herself with for years. Josie’s fully aware that she can’t promise Hope anything about not leaving her because she knows that her time is also ticking away. The Merge will come and she can’t promise Hope that she’ll never leave her.

The promise of ‘always and forever’ that Hope mentions is a promise that Josie kept thinking about and she realizes that she can’t say that to Hope no matter how badly she wants Hope to know it.

After about two weeks of peace, another monster decided to show up in Salvatore and this time, it’s the Krampus. Well, Josie didn’t exactly remembered what happened throughout the day, the only thing she recalled was going to the kitchen to grab breakfast and the next thing she knows, Santa Claus was beating up the Krampus. Well, that’s quite an unforgettable moment to experience, of course.

Josie actually has mustered up enough courage to confess to Hope and she’s resolved to tell Hope that day. So, imagine her frustration when she realized that almost a day has gone in a joyful, Christmas trance and to get out of that trance only to see Santa Claus being really violent. Josie quickly went back to her room to compose herself as she prepares herself for what she’s going to say to Hope.

Josie takes out a bracelet with a wolf amulet from her drawer to give to Hope. Josie actually bought it on the summer when she forgot Hope. While she was walking through the vintage store, she saw a simple leather bracelet with a wolf amulet on it and she’s really drawn to it and decided to buy it. However, Josie only use it several times then she stored it carefully in her drawer, and when her memory of Hope returned, Josie realized that she’d unconsciously purchased it for Hope.

And so Josie put the bracelet in her pocket and decides to look for Hope while she still has her courage. Josie wishes that no one or nothing will interrupt her again this time. She looks for Hope in her room, the hall, the library, even in her father’s office, but Hope’s not there.

Josie then tries to look for Hope in the dock, and then she spotted Hope’s auburn hair from afar. She’s standing in the driveway under all the lights, looking so perfect despite the day she had, fighting the Krampus. Hope’s unaware of Josie’s existence and she’s staring at all the lights with awe, and Josie’s heart can’t handle this much of a perfect view. Josie can feel her cheeks blushing at the sight of Hope, she can already hear her heartbeat picking up the pace and feelings of nervousness swirling in her stomach.

Josie takes out the bracelet and she walks slowly toward Hope, her heartbeat growing much louder and faster with every step she takes. When Josie’s about to reach the entrance, she sees Hope turning her head with surprise and Josie can’t believe her eyes. It’s Landon. He’s back.

Josie halts her steps and she quickly hides behind the pillar to prevent both Hope and Landon from seeing her. She quickly whispers, “ _Invisique_ ” to make herself invisible and Josie exhales stealthily. Josie knows what this means, she doesn’t have any more chance with Hope. She hears it all, Landon’s apology for leaving and how he’s trying to make it right and it feels like a ton of weight had just been dropped on her chest. Then Landon says that he will decide between her and Hope, Josie’s startled by the mention of her name and she silently walks back to her room, knowing what’s going to happen next.

After several minutes arriving in her room, Josie hears a knock, she can feel the tears brimming in her eyes but that’s not because of what’s Landon going to do. Josie doesn’t even care anymore about him. The only thing she cares is any opportunity of her ending up with Hope that will be just a figment of her dreams by now. She grips the bracelet tightly and shoves it to her drawer before opening the door. Josie tries to put on her best smile when she opens the door with Landon bowing his head behind it.

The next thing that happens has already been predicted by Josie, Landon gives her a grand speech about how she’s a great partner and friend but Josie knows the ending already, she knows what he’s going to say to her. Tired of pretending anymore, Josie immediately cuts to the chase, “But I’m not Hope… right?” Josie speaks Hope’s name with a bitterness of never being able to tell the girl how she really feels.

While Landon thinks that Josie’s heartbroken because he chose Hope, he tries to hug Josie and apologizes to her over and over again. Then, Josie lets herself cry, she doesn’t care what Landon thinks or if he feels guilty, tears are streaming down her face as she tells Landon to go. Josie can feel her heart breaking bit by bit when she lets Landon walk out of her room because she knows that she will be locking all her feelings away toward Hope for maybe, forever.

Not long after Landon goes out of the room Josie looks out her window and she sees Hope still on the porch, waiting for Landon and then he returns with a smile. He said some words to Hope and Hope’s frown turns into a smile and they lean in toward each other, Josie turns away and closes the curtain.

She can’t bear herself to see them together; it actually hurts her so much. It’s crazy how several weeks of spending time with Hope could multiply her resurfacing feelings uncontrollably toward Hope. Josie curls up on her bed, thinking about Hope and it makes her heart ache, she holds back a sob when she hears Lizzie walk inside their room.

However, Lizzie already knows what happened since she’s the one who brought Landon back, she actually feels really guilty toward Josie and she approaches her twin and spoons her in a hug. “I’m so sorry, Jo.” She tries to comfort her twin because Lizzie could actually feel the sadness and the ache in Josie’s heart. Josie breaks down and she turns her face to Lizzie as Lizzie envelopes her in a tight hug. Lizzie feels tears comes down on her face, seeing her twin with this much pain and she can’t help but feel guilty for bringing Landon back. “Jo, I’m truly sorry, I didn’t think that it will hurt you this much… “Lizzie apologizes.

“It’s not your fault, Liz…” Josie buries her head in Lizzie’s neck as she sobs. Lizzie didn’t say anything else and she rubs Josie’s back to comfort her, hugging her close, wishing she could siphon this heartbreak her sister’s going through. But little did Lizzie know that Josie’s heartbreak’s not because of Landon but it’s actually because of a certain tribrid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo, what do you guys think about it? i just think that hosie could actually happened by this episode back on season 2, if it wasn't for birdboy coming back -___-   
> and i just imagined what if it's actually true, what if josie was about to confess to Hope when the freaking birdboy came back and broke up with her just to get Hope back, what a dickwad.  
> anyways, thanks for the comments, kudos and bookmarks y'all have been leaving here! appreciate it!


	5. True Love's Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will Josie finally suceeds confessing to Hope this time? or will she completely fails?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! well, this is the last chapter, I hope that you'll enjoy this. in my book, 3x01 never happened and I'd rather believe that this is what happen instead. what happened in 3x01 was super problematic and heteronormative and i am really shaking my head in disbelief toward the writers (may i say that they did such crappy writings this season, esp for Hope).  
> so I wrote this based on how I envisioned 3x01 should happen, not that sorry excuse of an episode where they just had to make birdboy the center of everything instead of our girls, hope and josie.  
> please tell me what you think about this :D last but not least, happy reading!

After her multiple failures on confessing her feelings for Hope and her latest heartbreak due to Landon’s return, Josie decides to pull herself away from all the dramas and she focuses on practicing dark magic. Headmaster Vardemus who turned out to be Ryan Clarke, told her about the Mora Miserium and it made her braver to deal with dark magic.

Of course, seeing Hope and Landon back together didn’t make everything easier for Josie but she tries her best to carry on and maintain good relationships with the both of them because Josie thinks that it’s better to have Hope as her friend than to lose her. However, repressing all her feelings are exhausting, the only way to channel it is to use dark magic and then storing the darkness into the Mora Miserium. As long as Josie keeps it safe, she could keep her magic and her feelings in check.

But of course, things never went as planned for Josie. She just had to be sent into the prison world and met her psychotic uncle who murdered her bio-mom. So Josie used a huge amount of dark magic inside the prison world to save her family and the students Alaric has banished inside, back to the real world. Everything went as planned, until the Mora Miserium breaks and shatters into pieces. As a consequence, it causes the rise of her dark side, which the others call Dark Josie.

Josie only remembers bits and pieces of what happened since Dark Josie took over her body and shoved down her consciousness deep down inside. Josie tries to fight her dark self everyday but whenever she comes close, she fails and there are some times when she takes over but it’s only for several minutes.

Josie’s actually relieved that she manages to take over when Dark Josie comes close to killing Hope. For several minutes, Josie’s transported in some kind of a boxing ring and Hope’s talking to her, calling out her name. When Josie realized that Dark Josie’s going to kill Hope, she uses all her willpower to break Dark Josie’s focus and that gives Hope time to defeat her.

But it’s not that easy to defeat Dark Josie, not until Hope comes inside her sub-conscious that’s filled with a fairy tale theme. Josie’s kinda embarrassed that Hope has to see her sub-conscious and she can’t let Hope know what’s going inside her mind so she disguises herself as the pig and talks to Hope.

Hope is clothed like the Red Riding Hood and Josie becomes a pig and leads Hope all around her sub-conscious. Things are going well until Dark Josie sensed that Hope’s on their sub-conscious and she tries to stop it. After Josie reveals her disguise to Hope and Hope encourages her to change the story, Josie starts believing that she could defeat Dark Josie, she has more power over her dark side and she’s going to do this because Hope believes in her.

Josie doesn’t even know what kind of chaos that her dark side’s has been wreaking in Salvatore and she can’t help to think about the consequences. Josie’s worried to go back to the real world but seeing Hope makes her remember that she can’t keep on hiding and that she’s strong enough to defeat her dark side. So, Josie succeeds in destroying Dark Josie, however she isn’t fast enough to stop Hope from turning into stone in her sub-conscious.

When Josie wakes up, she finds her father and her sister beside her bed and they directly hug her tightly. Josie hugs them back, sensing that Dark Josie has been causing a great deal of troubles at the school. Josie then immediately asks for Hope and her father frowns at her question.

“Dad, tell me, where’s Hope?” Josie demands as she raises her voice, her dad seems to slightly flinch at her tone and he looks at Josie worriedly.

“Sweetie, you need to rest first,” Alaric tries to calm Josie down.

“No, I need to see Hope, she turned into stone in my sub-conscious, I need to make sure that she’s back and she’s okay too.” Josie tries to get up from her bed but Lizzie stops her, “Jo, no going out of the room before you fully recovered.”

Josie then glares sharply at Lizzie, “Lizzie, move. I’m not going to say it twice.”

Lizzie’s startled at her sister’s tone and she reluctantly moves out of the way, Josie quickly tries to compose herself and she looks at her outfit in her mirror as she stands up, oh wow, it’s terrible. Josie walks swiftly, looking for Hope and she finds Hope in her room, sleeping peacefully like she’s in some kind of a coma.

“No…” Josie exclaims with a heavy amount of guilt as she sees Hope. “No…” she walks over to Hope and touches her cheek, “It’s my fault.” Josie states as she gritted her teeth with frustration.

Josie stays by Hope’s side for several days and it’s been a very exhausting week for her emotionally and physically for dealing from the aftermath of what Dark Josie did. Josie finds out that she killed Alyssa Chang, burned the school, made a deal with the Necromancer, tried to kill Hope and even forced her twin to do the Merge, and it overwhelms her. Josie’s actually afraid of herself right now. She can’t undo all the things Dark Josie did but she will try her best to fix anything that comes up.

Other students still look at her with fear or even worse, contempt. Josie can hear whispers all around her when she enters a room and glares from most of the students. And so, Josie spends most of her time in Hope’s room, trying to find a way to wake her up.

Until one day, Josie’s just too tired to research things; she just sits by Hope’s side and looks at the girl who’s peacefully sleeping. Hope’s sleeping condition reminds Josie of what happened in her sub-conscious, Josie poses herself as the Sleeping Beauty and “pig Josie” told Hope to give her a kiss. She smiles at the memory and she looks at the girl in front of her longingly. And then an idea pops into her head, what if, Hope could actually wake up with a true love’s kiss?

Josie remembers that she read something about magical coma being tied into spells that actually can be broken by some kiss. She quickly grabs the book and she reads it thoroughly. It’s a hypothesis that’s maybe worth trying!

But then, Josie frowns at the thought that only Landon’s kiss could break Hope’s coma. Well, they are each other’s epic loves and so that’s what they need to do. Josie really wants to keep this thing to herself, she wishes that there’s another way but she has run out of ideas. She closes the book and put it aside, knowing well what she needs to do.

So Josie takes Hope’s hands in hers and she starts singing softly,

_“_ _And I'd give up forever to touch you_ _  
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
And I don't want to go home right now_

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
Or the moment of truth in your lies  
When everything feels like the movies  
Yeah, you bleed just to know, you're alive_

_And I don't want the world to see me  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am_ _”_

Josie ends the song with a whisper as tears rolled down her cheek and presses her lips softly on Hope’s forehead. Josie holds the kiss for a while and then she wipes the tears from her eyes and clears her throat, “Well, because I never had the chance to tell you how I feel, let me just tell you now.”

Josie takes a deep breath, “Oh wow, this is a lot easier than telling you when you’re awake,” Josie lets out a chuckle and she caresses Hope’s face then she continues, “Hope, I think I’ve always been in love with you since I was twelve. There’s so many times that I wanted to tell you about how I feel but something just get in the way. I know that I’m not your epic love, but I’d like to think that you are mine. I’d always imagine how I will confess my feelings to you but I never thought that I’d be doing it like this.”

Josie sniffles as she feels the tears that are threatening to come out from her eyes, “I found a way to wake you up and I know what to do, but this feels really hard for me because it will only be confirming my worst heartbreak. So now, before getting my heart broken into pieces, let me just tell you that I’ll always love you. You’re the only one who always sees me for who I am and I love you for that. And now, if letting you go means waking you up, I’ll do it. At least I have to try to fix all the mess I made.” Josie finishes her monologue and gives another kiss on Hope’s forehead, “I’ll always love you, Hope Mikaelson.” Josie vows solemnly and she walks out of the room to find Landon.

Josie finds Landon on the gym and explains the situation to him and of course, Landon gladly agrees to try out Josie’s idea and they walk back into Hope’s room. Josie knows that he’s excited because he gets to save Hope this time, he tries his best to be not too giddy about it but of course Josie can see right through him.

When they reach Hope’s room, Josie stops and she opens the door, looking at the sleeping older girl one last time before she wakes up, and Josie lets Landon in. “I hope it works. Good luck,” she says to Landon, not bothering to look him in the eyes as she closes the door. Josie decides to go out to the dock, she needs to clear her head and not think of what will happen in the next several minutes.

After maybe 30 minutes at the dock, Josie walks back inside because it’s getting cold. She’s about to enter her room when Lizzie calls out from the corridor, “Jo, it’s Hope!”

“What?! What happened?” Josie asks her sister because she looks terrified.

“She woke up!” Lizzie exclaims.

Josie looks at her sister in confusion, “Okay… why do you look terrified?”

“As much as I like her waking up, I think Hope in a magical coma is so much better so we don’t need to worry about her savior complex,” Lizzie says nonchalantly as she walks past Josie.

“Urgh!” Josie shakes her head in disbelief toward her twin, she actually thought that something’s wrong with Hope, but she actually wakes up, that means her hypothesis checked out and Josie slightly frowned at what it meant.

“What?” Lizzie just raises her eyebrows, “Aren’t you going to go check on her? You’ve been going to her room everyday right?”

Josie takes a deep breath and composes her emotion, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll go check up on her. Thank you for the intentional scare, Liz.” Josie says sarcastically.

“Anytime, twinsie.” Lizzie winks and walks into their room. Josie chuckles a bit at her sister’s behavior as she walks toward Hope’s room. Her excitement, worry, sadness and nervousness all mix into one and Josie knocks on Hope’s door and opens it. Josie can feel the pain in her chest when she sees Landon inside the room and Hope’s saying something to him. After noticing Josie's presence, they hug each other and Landon exits the room. Weirdly, he doesn’t look as ecstatic as he is compared to when he’s about to enter the room.

Josie closes the door behind her and approaches Hope, “Hey,” she says with a smile toward the girl, her heart still beats fast for her despite the ache she’s been feeling.

“Hey there,” Hope smiles back softly at her.

“How are you feeling, Sleeping Beauty?” Josie wiggles her eyebrows and sits on Hope’s bed.

Hope pouts, “How am I the Sleeping Beauty when you’re literally the Sleeping Beauty in your own sub-conscious?”

“Well, I’m not the one who was in a magical coma for three weeks,” Josie sticks her tongue at Hope.

“Ah, touché.” Hope nods and gazes at Josie tenderly.

“Hey, why doesn’t Landon seem so excited when he gets out? He should be happy.” Josie suddenly asks Hope out of curiosity.

“Why should he be happy?” Hope questions Josie.

“Because you wake up, of course.” Josie rolls her eyes, “And for being the one who saves you this time, at last.” Josie says with a hint of bitterness but then she laughs it off.

Hope scrunches her eyebrows, “Um, what? I don’t understand…”

Josie’s also surprised at Hope’s confusion, “His kiss wakes you up, right? I just found out a hypothesis that a true love’s kiss could bring you back from your coma. At first it seems like a stupid thing but then I read another excerpt that strengthened the statement, and so I told Landon what he needs to do and the rest is history.”

Hope puts on a poker face when Josie explains to her what happened and Josie tries to gauge her reaction but Hope’s expression is unreadable. She tilts her head and looks at Josie quietly.

“What is it Hope?” Josie asks her worriedly. Hope stays quiet for some time then she breaks the silence, “Landon and I broke up.”

“What?!” Josie exclaims, can’t believe what she just heard.

“Landon and I broke up.” Hope repeats the sentence calmly.

“But why?? How?? I don’t understand, I thought he’s your epic love? That’s why the kiss worked right?!” Josie’s surprised by the sudden bomb of an information that Hope just drops on her.

“I think I loved him at some point. But I don’t think he’s my epic love…” Hope falters.

“Wait, I really don’t get it, if he’s not your epic love, why did you wake up from your coma?” Josie thinks hard of all the possibilities that might happen, “Did I interpret the text wrongly? Let me check the book again,” Josie stands up but Hope grabs her hand quickly.

“Josie,” Hope stops Josie and Josie turns back worriedly.

“What? I need to check the book,” she tries to get up again.

Hope pulls her back to the bed softly, “Please, sit down.”

“What is it, Hope?” Josie looks at Hope with confusion.

“There’s no kiss.” Hope says with a straight-face.

“What?!” Josie’s eyes bulges out, “You have to explain it to me.”

“Landon didn’t even kiss me, Jo.” Hope simply explains to Josie.

“So how did you wake up? I don’t understand.” Josie runs her hand through her hair, trying to think about what could wake Hope up if it wasn’t because of Landon’s kiss.

Hope looks at Josie adoringly and she can’t stop the smile creeping on her lips.

“You know something don’t you?” Josie suspiciously eyed Hope and Hope only raises her eyebrow and smirks at Josie.

“Tell me, Hope!” Josie moves close to Hope as she holds Hope’s hand.

Hope’s smiling widely right now at Josie and Josie’s utterly confused, well if it wasn’t for her confusion, she might have melt because of Hope’s warm smile.

“You kissed me.” Hope wiggles her eyebrows in glee.

“What?! No I didn’t kiss you! And why did my kiss should wake you up? I’m not even your—“ Josie abruptly stops and she remembers what she did before she left Hope’s room. Josie freezes in shock on realizing what she did.

Hope keeps smiling as she nods her head toward Josie.

“No, it can’t be! That’s impossible!” Josie tries to deny the fact.

“Why is it impossible Jo?” Hope asks her.

“Because if the kiss works that means I-I’m your t-true love and I don’t think that it’s possible,” Josie stammers as she looks down embarrassedly.

Hope moves closer toward Josie’s face, “But you are, Jo.”

“I-I am?” Josie looks rather surprised at Hope’s confession.

“Of course you are,” Hope intertwines her fingers with Josie’s, “I heard what you said to me about your feelings. And all these times, I never thought that you had feelings for me too. So I look for love elsewhere because I don’t think that you’ll reciprocate my feelings, Jo.”

Josie’s still in shock with the words that are coming out from Hope’s lips. “You heard everything?” she now looks mortified.

“Yeah… I tried to wake up but my eyes were very heavy to open. But I heard you, Jo. And I love you too.” Hope confesses her feelings.

Josie’s cheeks are flushed and she panics a little, she poured her heart to Hope and Hope heard everything? And Hope actually loves her too? Oh god, what just happened? Josie’s internally freaking out.

‘I- I don’t know what to say, Hope.” Josie stutters with nervousness, she can’t believe all of the things that just happened especially what Hope says to her.

“Maybe you should try giving me a kiss?” Hope raises her eyebrow and she puts her hand on Josie’s cheek.

Josie bites her lips as she shyly smiles because it reminds her of what happened on her sub-conscious and she plays along, “But you said a non-consensual kiss is never the answer…?”

Hope smirks and leans in closer to Josie, “Did asking you for a kiss didn’t count as giving you consent?”

Josie chuckles as she closes the gap between her and Hope, they kiss each other slowly and sweetly, and when they pull away Hope gives her another peck, “I don’t know what that was if _that_ wasn’t a true love’s kiss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, how are we feeling? is it good enough?  
> just want to credit that the title of the song is taken from the song Venus by Sleeping At Last (i love their songs so much) ❤️  
> and the song Josie sings to Hope is Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls, it's a famous song and I bet most of you know it. it's one of my favorite songs and I heard it while I'm writing this chapter, I just thought that the song fits the scene so I include it here. hope it's not cringey :") and well, i'm a sucker for josie singing and well it's a long shot but i hope that we get to see a scene where josie sings for hope in legacies.  
> i hope you guys noticed the last part where i emphasized on the part about consensual kiss, so Josie kissing Hope's forehead is a sign of affection, and I think that it's better than a freakin' birbdoy kissing the powerful tribrid just to wake her up because he's her "true love", they're just doing hope and josie dirty since 2x16 seems really care about "non-consensual kiss is never the answer". well, just hit me up if you didn't agree about how i wrote it, I'm up for discussion :)  
> last but not least, thank you for all your comments, kudos and bookmarks and thanks for staying up to this chapter! thank you! my work would be meaningless without you guys <3  
> and i'm going to make more hosie fics for us hosie shippers to deal with the crapy ass storyline this season, don't forget #HOSIEISHAPPENING, keep your spirit up! with that said, hope to see you guys on my next fic xoxo

**Author's Note:**

> tell me what you think about it! kudos, comments and bookmarks are really appreciated!  
> and i just got into twitter so you can come find me on @jhmikaelsons , hope we can be mutuals! hit me up if you want to talk about hosie or you have some fics requests for me, i'm up for that! :) just say hi and i'll follow you guys, been wanting to interact more with my readers other than in AO3, see you there!


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